Recruitment and consultancy freeze – exceptions approved – February 2013

1. During the month of February 2013, the following exceptions to the recruitment and consultancy freeze have been considered by the Chief Executive, in his capacity as Accounting Officer.

2. The details are shown below:

| Approval date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy/ recruitment | Decision | |---------------|------------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|----------| | 05/02/2013 | 261 RME | Review of NR's tax and VAT forecasts £30,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 08/02/2013 | 264 RPP | Advice/Scrutiny of £200m of NR Costs. Contract extension with Arup/URS Extension value £29,000. Total contract value £621,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 12/02/2013 | 265 RME | Regulatory Economic Advice - Gaynor Mather and Geoff Horton £136,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 15/02/2013 | 266 EA | 2 X Grade D - Stakeholder Relations | Recruitment | Approved |

3. Requests for consultancy valued at \<£20,000 considered by the Director of Corporate Operations

| Approval date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy/ recruitment | Decision | |---------------|------------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|----------| | 04/02/2013 | 260 EA | Editorial Support for PR 13 £15,810 | Consultancy | Approved | | 20/02/2013 | 267 EA | Stakeholder Benchmarking Survey £15,000 | Consultancy | Approved |